EDITING SERVICES
As an editor and manuscript consultant with a strong background in poetry and literature, I have over two decades of experience editing creative nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid forms. I'm particularly interested in work that pushes against traditions of usage and syntax, though at heart I'm as happy to edit an email as I am an essay—or a poem. My process as an editor typically involves several passes through the text. I give suggestions for specific line edits as well as more general observations about the work as a whole and recommendations for how it might be improved. I maintain close contact with authors, giving regular progress updates, and I do my best to answer questions quickly. I endeavor, too, to build and sustain friendly, respectful relationships with all my clients. In every instance I'm motivated by a deep interest in the language of the work at hand.
Click here to view my Editorial Resume
EDITING TESTIMONIALS
Working with Kary has been energizing. Her wonderful balance of criticism and praise is both motivating and enlightening. She makes you feel like she is there on the page working with you. Sweating every detail. Waiting for the right word. Digging deep for the best thought. —John Claxton, 2022 (Book-length poetry manuscript, work ongoing)
Kary is a kind and talented editor. She’s knowledgeable, attentive, detail-oriented, and attuned to the unexplored possibilities in each text. She’s also fearless about telling you what your best work requires. Every time I’ve followed her advice on a piece, the result has been a text that felt more like—I don’t know another way to say this—itself. How delightful is that? You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who does better work. —E. Briskin, author, Orange (Entre Rios, 2020)
Kary was a real pleasure to work with. The quality of her editing work was extremely high and she was absolutely reliable in terms of meeting deadlines and being communicative. I would recommend her to anyone looking for a strong editor. —Edgar Moran, author, My Strength in Adversity (Edgar M. Moran, 2021)
Not to be dramatic, but I I've been looking for this sort of editor my whole life. If you need a manuscript consultation, I *highly* recommend Kary Wayson.—Gabrielle Bates, author, Judas Goat (Tin House, forthcoming in 2023)
Kary Wayson has helped me shape and fine-tune a number of essays, stories, and two manuscripts over the last fifteen years. One of the manuscripts she reviewed was an academic book, and the other, a memoir. Kary’s adept at finding the heart of the narrative, the intent and the aspiration of the work. She offers clear, direct suggestions about what might need to be reshaped, reconsidered, rewritten and/or sometimes cut. She’s thorough and reflective, attentive to small details; Kary considers each word. I never doubt that a piece of writing she’s edited is on its way to becoming its best self. I can’t recommend Kary highly enough. —Trisha Ready, author, Music in Therapeutic Practice (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016)
I was in the midst of reworking a manuscript that had been a near-miss at several presses over the course of several years, and was at a dead end in my revision process. That was when I enlisted Kary’s help as an editor. Kary read two different versions of the manuscript. She helped me to tear it apart. She threw some pieces out (that I wouldn’t otherwise have had the heart to cut), then she gave me assignments for new poems to replace them. Within six months, I had an entirely new draft of the book, and six months after that, it was accepted for publication. Kary is a brilliant editor for the same reasons she is a brilliant teacher. She has an uncanny ability to step inside a poet’s mind. Kary will let you in on the secret of your work—and then give you the tools you need to realize it. The question isn’t should you work with Kary. The question is: why aren’t you working with her already? —Drew Dillhunt, associate editor, Hummingbird Press, and author, Leaf is All (Bear Star, 2015)
[Kary] helped me build my chapbook, and then my first book, poem by poem, encouraging me to ask all the right questions of them, to study them line by line. With all sincerity, I’d say that working together with her… continued and furthered my education as a writer. I have no doubt that she’ll do the same for many other writers who seek her help, and I recommend her whole-heartedly.” —Erin Malone, author, Hover (Tebot Bach, 2015) and What Sound Does It Make (Concrete Wolf, 2008)